Two Worlds Collide
by Fantasy Boudicca
Summary: Sequel/Crossover of my stories A Picture Paints a Thousand Words and Verde House. When Xavier Verde and Christina Seah meet and throw in a trip to The Tudors and a Mary Sue, things will get interesting. Mentions of rape, torture and murder (in the context of comparing a crime to these, so nothing gory) and mild swearing later in the story. Readers be warned. Rated T for a reason.
1. Christina

**Two Worlds Collide**

**A.N. This contains more swearing than most of my stories, and mentions of rape, torture and murder (something else is compared to these, so nothing too gory). Readers be warned.**

Christina

I can't say what I expected when I met Xavier Verde and the rest of his family in Brisbane, Australia, where we'd agreed to meet during the December holidays. I guess I expected to see someone powerful, someone whose mere presence could cause what had never happened in six hundred years of recorded history.

I'd seen him before (and still had a crush on him from then, Minerva kill me now) so I have no idea why I was surprised to see a regular teenager my age sitting at the table for us kids.

Xavier and I were supposed to meet, as the two most magically powerful of our families. The meeting in a hotel function room was _supposed_ to be uneventful, just a simple meet-and-greet and dinner.

It wasn't.

We sat along two long tables, kids at one table, adults at the other. Xavier and I sat across from each other at the end of the kids table.

Amy, Uncle Percy's and Aunt Julia's thirteen-year-old daughter who by some fluke didn't have the ability, was typing something on her iPhone next to me the whole dinner. She'd recently become hooked on writing, and since that Julia girl - Xavier's younger cousin, not Aunt Julia - sitting opposite her was doing the same, one hand buried in her German Shepherd's fur and the other hand using her phone, I let it slide.

I could feel a weird kind of magic from her, though. After becoming a Master, I'd become more sensitive to the different kinds of magic that some people had. All Artists used the same magic, but Amy's magic was different. Similar to the Artists', but not the same. Probably because of the Verdes. They had different magic – weaker, but still reasonably powerful; I'd sensed that the moment I walked in. That's probably why.

Here's the thing: The Verde's magic is linked to books, texts, as the source of their magic was a plot of land that brought characters out of their stories.

Our magic was linked to art, meaning that whatever art we completed came to life. Mix those two together in a girl and leave it dormant for thirteen years because no magic activated it, and you get a recipe for disaster.

How I found this out? Amy leaned back in her chair with a smile and declared her work finished near the end of the dinner.

Next thing I know I have Jonathan Rhys Meyers-lookalike/King Henry VIII from _The Tudors _TV series demanding to know where the (insert choice 1500s swear word) he was.

I was so dead.

Everyone in my family stared at me in disbelief for a few seconds. The German Shepherd started barking until Julia silenced it with a hand gesture. Finally my cousin Gareth, the poor soul that got dragged into _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ with me spoke up. "Christina, what the holy Minerva did you do?!"

"Nothing!" I protested. "I swear, I kept my mind clear and everything!"

"I think that was me…" Amy said in a small voice, looking at her phone. The thing was now completely blank.

"Would someone please explain?!" Henry VIII demanded.

I ignored Amy, stood and curtsied to the King. "Your Majesty, my family has had the ability to draw so realistically that if completed their drawings come to life for centuries. It is an inherited ability. Evidently some idiot went and completed a drawing of you. I will send you back to your own time and place. Now is the year of our Lord two thousand and sixteen, if you wish to know."

He looked surprised for a second, then glared at me suspiciously. "Witchcraft."

I sighed. "Do you want to be back in England in your own time or not? Unfortunately, the spell we use drags the caster along as well, so you will be stuck with me for a while until someone draws a portrait of me and brings me back, but as time between two worlds are generally separate, I have no idea how long it will be.

"In the meantime I swear that I will not harm you or anyone except in self-defense, but I also need you to swear that you will not have me arrested or harmed so long as I do not use my ability to hurt."

Henry VIII didn't let up on his glare, but he nodded. "I swear on my honor that I will not have you harmed if you do not use your magic to hurt."

"Christina, you are not doing this. The last time you did you nearly died_ and_ our secret was exposed," Mum said. "I'll do it."

"Mum, you know you can't do the spell anymore, and I'm not going into the practical warzone that the Valley of Peace was. No Oogway annoying every other kung-fu master there is. I'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"

Mum opened her mouth to reply but I gave her a Look. "I'll be fine. Don't worry. Besides, I survived the Valley of Peace. Worst case scenario, I get in a fight and I come back with a couple of bruises."

Mum visibly deflated and nodded.

I dug one of my copies of the spell from my skirt pocket.

I was about to start reading it, when Xavier Verde suddenly stood up. "I'm coming as well. Bar one of your older cousins coming, you won't have any kind of legal standing otherwise. We're related, if you stretch the definition a bit, and by the laws of that time I'm a man. And since Amy claims responsibility, it is us Verde's fault as well."

I hated to admit it, but he was right. I looked around at my cousins and uncles. Dad wasn't around because he'd gotten a case of the 'flu. No-one volunteered. Cowards.

"Alright, just don't start go screaming for your mum if something goes wrong," I warned. Okay, do not freak out when saying this, you are now officially on Quest Mode: "Grab onto my wrist."

He grabbed my wrist and I started on the spell.

A… wait a second, isn't that mist supposed to be gold, not silver? I didn't dare stop, though. The last time I stopped a spell and restarted it when the gold mist already surrounded us, I actually passed out immediately after I completed the spell, and stayed unconscious until someone tried dragging me across a magic border meant to keep mortals like me out, head-first. Not fun.

Finally the silver mist lifted... And we stood in front of the whole freaking court.

Holy freaking Minerva.

_Alright, I can handle wearing ancient Chinese court dress and makeup for two months, I can handle Tudor court dress for a while,_ I thought. _Not._

I had been shunted into Kathryn Howard's court, Xavier into Henry VIII's. The King reasoned out that it'd be a lot easier to handle a single wizard in his own court than a witch _and _a wizard. Better to get Xavier under his thumb then focus on me.

Besides, I was a just a girl. What's the worst I could do?

Kathryn Howard wasn't extremely pretty, but she was young, just a few years older than I was, which apparently made up for being the single silliest being I'd ever met. She was nice, but only interested in clothes and jewellery, and was barely able to read and write.

To be fair, she probably didn't really get the chance to learn, and if I was the wife of a self-centered temperamental sick king old enough to be my grandfather, I'd be the same.

It still didn't stop it from being slightly annoying.

My thoughts were cut off by Mary, the maid assigned to me, pulling the laces on my kirtle in.

A kirtle was basically just the Renaissance Wonderbra, made out of a stiff bodice and skirt, worn over a chemise and a petticoat, and under a silk velvet gown with a ridiculously low-cut neckline and train so the Renaissance Wonderbra could do its job and give any males over the age of twelve a hard time concentrating.

Then after that were the sleeves which were _also_ made out of silk velvet, and a silk belt thing that went around my waist. Then I had to wear a very stiff, heavy hood, which was pretty stupid considering that my hair was actually _shorter_ than some of the men's.

The whole thing ended up weighing close to a kilogram. Not fun to move around in and even less to get dressed in. And the stupid part was I'd actually drawn the blasted dress, using a lady-in-waiting's gown as a template and changing a few details here and there, like the size, the colour, et cetera.

I was in a pretty bad mood by the time I was able to meet Xavier in the gardens. I'd asked him to meet me in the gardens in two hours, before we got dragged off in different directions to change into something a bit more appropriate for that supposed time period.

Xavier wasn't in the best mood either when I saw him leaning against a wall, which made me smirk. I wasn't the only one suffering.

"You never warned me about this," he said sulkily.

"What?" I demanded. Alright, maybe that was uncalled for, but still…

"_This_. The weird clothes, how freaking formal everyone talks, everything," he replied, glaring at me.

Oh, so the brat can't handle this. "I'm _so_ sorry that I thought you'd have thought before coming along."

He stood up straight. "A little warning would've been nice!"

"You live on a plot of land where story characters are _routinely_ dragged out of their stories! I figured you'd realize that it'd be different here, blockhead!"

"How was I supposed to know?!"

"Oh, I don't know, thinking?!" Holy Minerva, I really was angry if that was the best I could think of. "I never asked you to come! I would be perfectly fine on my own!"

"Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have come! Maybe this whole business with you Artists is just a waste of time! I don't see why we bothered, it's just a couple of your boys suddenly becoming good at drawing!"

"A _couple_?! Try a couple dozen, you brat! Everyone. You. Met. And believe me, you would be bothered if the result of the boys randomly getting the ability out of nowhere results in your _four-year-old_ niece getting sent into danger!"

"So what? I had two attempts on my life by the age of five, just for my magic!"

By now we were nearly nose-to-nose, yelling at each other. That kid was so lucky I was still drained from the spell and was too tired to cast anything: I probably would have cursed the brat.

I could not think of a reply. We just stood and glared at each other. Holy Minerva, this kid was spoiled. I hadn't wanted him along, and now _he_ was complaining about the whole mess.

Now why had I ever fancied him in the first place? Not for his personality, that's for sure.

"If this is how it's going to be, I think we're best going solo," I hissed.

"Agreed," Xavier hissed back.

We turned and left at the same time.

"-His Majesty gave me this beautiful new robe, bought from some heathen country, and it has the most _lovely_ flowers on it."

How and why I was here, I wasn't sure. I did know that I was bored out of my skull.

Kathryn Howard was showing off some new thing Henry VIII had bought for her. I really couldn't care less about fashion, so I was just pretending to pay attention and look interested while she prattled on.

"Lady Christina, I believe you are from that region? Perhaps you would be able to identify where the dress came from?" Lady Katherine Tylney asked. She was another one of Kathryn Howard's ladies, and a lot smarter than most of them, luckily, so I didn't go insane too soon. Unfortunately she too was convinced that Singapore was in China.

I reached for the robe. It really was beautiful, pink silk edged with white and gold and with silver and yellow magnolias embroidered on it.

I felt a pang of nostalgia. This was similar to what I had worn on my trip to ancient China. The only difference was that mine was red and had peonies rather than magnolias.

"China," I said.

Rather embarrassingly I couldn't quite keep the nostalgia out of my voice, and Lady Katherine Tylney picked up on it.

This ended up with me explaining the whole shenanigan in China, and Kathryn Howard insisting that I have the robe, because well, I'm not entirely sure, but it had something to do with it reminding me of home or something. Needless to say, I had long since given up explaining where Singapore was on the map.

Xavier and I hadn't spoken for two weeks now, probably for the better. Both of us being magic-users, we'd probably hex or even curse each other if we got in a fight.

"Lady Christina?"

"Huh?" I asked, shaking myself out of my thoughts. "Yes, Your Majesty?"

"I asked what you thought of Sir Xavier? He is quite handsome, is he not?" Kathryn Howard asked, blushing and giggling.

"He is handsome," I said carefully. It was true, the brat was hot. It was times like this where my policy of not letting myself crush on anyone while not in my own world was seriously tested. "But considering we are one argument away from a fight, I can't say much about his personality."

Kathryn and her ladies glanced at each other and giggled. "So you admit that he is handsome!"

I did not like where this was going. But I nodded anyway.

Probably not my best idea.

Kathryn Howard shared this with Henry VIII, who got it in his head that since Xavier and I both admitted to thinking the other was physically attractive (Ha! I did have a reason to hate my dress!), he should play Cupid and set us up on a very public date by having us sit across from each other at the next banquet so we could get to know each other.

This was _after_ I managed to explain that Xavier and I were one disagreement away from an crossing swords.

Genius.

So here I was, desperately resisting the urge to summon my weapons and demand a fight. Judging by the look on his face he was trying not to as well.

"You know what, forget this. Duel me," I snapped, standing up and summoning my sword and wand. "Obviously we're both one step away from killing each other, so may as well get it over with."

Xavier stood as well, his eyes blazing. "If you haven't noticed, _Christina_, I'm unarmed. Give me a damn sword and I'll do it."

A few of the ladies gasped at the curse word. Did I care? Nope.

"What kind?" I asked.

"Sabre. Mine deflected magic, though I don't expect you'll give me that courtesy."

I glanced at Henry VIII, automatically creating the requested sword and trying not to scratch myself because of the itchy feeling it gave me. Who knew magic-repelling weapons made me itch? "Let's take this outside."

Xavier looked at the high table and nodded. "Jousting field."

I handed him the sword and ran for the field, a good portion of the courtiers coming along to watch. I was so lucky I got to keep my combat boots and specs.

Xavier reached the field first and was waiting for me when I got there.

"Finally. I was going to die of old age," he sneered, stepping into what I recognized as a fighting stance. "To first hit, either with a spell or a sword."

I glared at him but nodded, using my wand to change my gown into my regular clothes, and got into my standard dueling stance – slightly crouched, left side to the opponent, sword in right hand and wand in left hand.

"Would someone do the honours?" Xavier called.

One of the men stepped forward and held up his hand.

We waited.

The hand dropped and I fired off a Disarming spell at Xavier. Well, I had to check just how good he was.

He deflected it with his sword... right back at me.

My wand flew out of my hand. If I'd been just a split-second slower in raising my sword, I would've been dead.

I quickly realized that landing a hit on him was going to be impossible, even using every technique I could think of. He avoided my attacks like he was born doing it, using moves, blocks and parries that I weren't even sure existed. More than once his attacks were just too fast for me to block, and I had to jump or dodge out of the way before I lost a limb.

There was no way I could win a sword fight with him. He was just too good. If I wanted to win, I had to get back my wand. Plus, there was the fact that if I got too close to his sword I wanted to scratch myself. I needed a ranged weapon.

I blocked, shoving him away as hard as I could, and lunged for my wand.

Well, it wasn't enough. I just managed to throw myself out the way before I got hit and created a shield already strapped around my left arm, taking the next hit on the shield.

Alright, my sword was a two-handed sword and I actually needed both hands to swing the thing, but hey, I panicked, and I really needed some way of not getting hit. Not a lot was better than a shield if you weren't fast enough to constantly dodge or keep blocking with your sword.

I managed to retreat to near where my wand was. Take Two. I took his next hit on my shield, dropped my sword, created a handful of snow and threw it in Xavier's face, then lunged for my wand.

I turned around just in time and yelled the first spell I could think of, pouring all my energy into it. _"Stupefy!_"

Lucky for me, he wasn't fast enough to block the spell this time. The spell hit him square in the chest and knocked him off his feet, unconscious.

I was horrible at reviving magically - back in Hogwarts my main priority had been learning every single spell that could be used for offense or defense in any way - so I just disarmed him, then went for the classic way of reviving someone that's knocked out: I created and dumped a bucket of water on his head.

He cursed and shot bolt upright, automatically going for where his pockets would have been if he'd been wearing modern clothes and scanning the area.

Yikes. I knew that look. Backing away until he remembers where he is would be a good idea if I wanted to stay in one piece.

After a second he realized where he was and looked over at me.

"I win."

He glared, but nodded grudgingly. "Can I have the sword back?"

After the duel, while Xavier and I weren't exactly friends, we did make a point of meeting up every chance we had, talking, arguing, and occasionally dueling each other. Usually it was at night, mostly because that was when we both had free time.

This went on for a few months, long enough for Xavier and me to relax a bit. The Tudor court was peaceful, why should we worry? We were stuck here, so we may as well enjoy it.

I should have known the peace wouldn't last. I had been in far too many royal courts, I should have seen it coming.

Kathryn Howard was an idiot. Frankly that's what she was. She slept with Thomas Culpepper and got caught.

Yeah. Ever heard the saying the bigger they are the harder they fall?

A Queen falling, that's truly epic. She won't fall on her own, no, anyone associated with her will fall with her.

It was just my luck that I got caught in the trap as well.

I was sitting in one corner, watching Kathryn Howard and the rest of her ladies dance and practicing a few spells myself when a group of men burst in. With lances that looked like they really should be used to chop heads off.

My kneejerk reaction was to summon my sword and wand, jumping up into a fighting stance with a spell on my lips, before I recognized the livery - just another word for uniforms - as the one all of the palace guards wore.

All the palace guards were under the command of Henry VIII.

They immediately positioned themselves at strategic points around the room. Not strategic points to defend, but strategic points to control a group of people if they got unruly. I also got a slightly itchy feeling as one of the guards came close to me. The same I'd gotten when I was handling Xavier's sword.

We were _so_ dead.

"Sergeant, what is this?" Despite the fact that she was the single shallowest person I knew, I had to give Kathryn Howard points for guts. If I hadn't been on so many adventures I'd have been shaking right then. As is I was fighting the urge to _Stupefy_ the guards and get the holy Minerva out of there.

"My lady, you are confined to your apartments, with only Lady Rochford to attend you, and Lady Christina is to surrender her weapons and remain in her quarters with Sir Xavier for as long as it pleases the King," the man I guessed was in charge of the guards, well, _ordered_.

I was definitely less likely to have a lance aimed at my head if I went along, so I handed over my wand and sword and quietly went with the three burliest guards there to my rooms. Needless to say I had to grab my own wrists so tightly my knuckles turned white to stop myself from scratching like a maniac.

Xavier was already waiting there, standing in the parlour and drumming his fingers nervously on the table. His sabre, which he'd been wearing for the past few weeks, had apparently been confiscated as well. At least I wouldn't have to keep grabbing my wrists.

I was pushed into the room.

"There are guards stationed just beyond the door, armed with magic-repelling weapons," one of the guards who had escorted me there informed.

With that, the door was shut.

I sank into one of the chairs and checked that no-one other than Xavier was there.

Clear.

"Any idea how they got hold of magic-repelling weapons?" Xavier asked. "I can't have been the only one who felt it."

"No. The only magic-repelling weapon I ever made was your sabre, and they can't have had it _that_ long," I said, confused. Then paused. "Wait, just how long have they had it?"

"They took it literally five minutes ago." Xavier came over and sat down across from me. "There's no way they could've melted it down that quickly. And I wouldn't have felt the effects. They aren't made using the kind of magic I use."

"So either this is the world's most elaborate hoax, or someone else figured out how to make magic-proof weapons. This is probably a hoax." I added the last part quickly. There was no way there could be another magic-user in the Tudor court. Look what happened to the last one accused of it.

Xavier raised an eyebrow but continued, looking progressively sicker as he said it. "We're under arrest. Kathryn Howard's been arrested as well, right? We're being arrested for helping her. Dereham got grabbed right in front of me. We need a plan."

"Xavier, man, you alright?" I really did not need a hysterical boy on my hands.

He nodded, taking a few deep breaths. "Got paper and something to write with?"

I summoned a few sheets of foolscap paper and two pens. "Let's get to work. I assume the charges will be helping Kathryn Howard."

"We have to admit that we were meeting up at night, whenever they couldn't find us," Xavier said immediately. "That's the first thing they'll use. They'll say we were helping Kathryn and Culpepper meet up."

I sighed. "But if we admit to meeting each other at night, we can just as easily be accused of adultery, and that isn't much better than helping the Queen commit treason."

Xavier was quiet for a few seconds. When he finally spoke, he sounded a bit like he was in a trance, not completely there in the room. "No. We can't be accused of adultery. Not if we claim…"

He looked at me and flushed a bit. "We can't be accused of adultery if we claim to be engaged anyway. I know a bit about laws from this era; if we claim precontract, basically having promised in the sight of God to marry each other, by the laws here anything between us isn't adultery, because we're married in the eyes of the church."

"But aren't we, well, a bit young?" I asked.

Xavier rolled his eyes. "Christina. Margaret Beaufort, Henry VIII's grandma, was married and gave birth to his dad at the age of thirteen. Compared to her we're ancient. I could have been married at age fourteen and you at age twelve in this time."

"True." I'd forgotten that fact. "Alright, so we're engaged to be married, and we wanted to um, do _that_, so that's why we kept sneaking away at night. As a result we can't have been helping them because we were busy with something else."

He wrote down, 'Precontract - proof that we're innocent' and put a tick next to it. "Hold it. I've an idea. You haven't got any objections to possibly lying to religious authority here, do you?"

I shrugged. "I've met two different gods, Aslan and Dionysus. Besides, all religious authorities here work for Henry VIII who is possibly trying to have me executed. Basically, no, I don't have any objections."

"Then say that we've been meeting up in secret, but it's been purely as friends."

I nodded, relieved that I didn't have to pretend to be in love or something. Or even lie for that matter. "Okay. Two options. How's Veritaserum sound to you? Truth Serum; it forces you to tell the truth."

Xavier shrugged. "If it works. You sure they'll believe us?"

"They can test it out on someone else," I pointed out. "Plus, I can swear on my magic. That oath forces me to fulfill it. If I break it, I'm disowned, my story recorded in the family records, everything I ever created turns to dust, then my own magic kills me. I hear tell that after that the magic goes to the nearest Artist, but nobody's broken any magic oaths so we don't know for sure."

He shuddered. "I should think not. And I thought swearing on the Styx was bad. Who the Hades came up with that?"

"One of my ancestors. Four options, then. Swearing on whatever is valuable to us, Veritaserum, being interrogated by whatever religious authority Henry VIII decides to throw at us, and that last desperado move which will never be used except in a life-or-death situation."

He laughed at the last part. "Yeah. I don't want to get hitched that fast. Anything else we can be accused of?"

"None that I know of."

"I'm all for winging it if it comes to that."

"Same."

I clenched and unclenched my fists in my lap, trying to keep my stress levels under control.

Xavier sat next to me. Apparently, us being two of the youngest in the Tudor court meant that we were interrogated together. Cowing us both in submission would be easy supposedly.

The door creaked open behind me. I barely stopped myself from summoning my wand.

Someone I didn't recognize walked into the room. A scribe, two guards armed with what I recognized were magic-repelling weapons and another man carrying a long, flat, narrow chest followed. I felt a slightly prickly, itchy feeling all over when the box came near me.

Xavier grabbed my hand and squeezed it. I wasn't sure if it was supposed to be reassuring or what.

"Let me ask you some questions about events since you have arrived in court."

I took a deep, calming breath, trying to force down my instinct to get out of there by whatever means necessary. I wished I wasn't seated. The mystery man was still standing, which gave him a height advantage. Any psychology student could tell you that this put him in a position of power.

Xavier wasn't much better than me - I could tell by how sweaty his palms were - but he did a good job of hiding it.

"Do you know what I'm talking about?"

I shook my head. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Xavier do the same.

The mystery man walked over and sat down. I mentally heaved a sigh of relief. "There's no need to be afraid, Lady Christina, Sir Xavier. No harm will come to you so long as you tell me the truth, are we clear?"

Blast. We hadn't hid it quite as well as we hoped. "Yes."

"I understand that you are witches, Sir Xavier, Lady Christina?"

"We prefer the term wizards, Sir, but yes, I am capable of performing magic, though I am magically very weak," Xavier said.

"Yes," I said carefully. "A student."

"Have you ever, by any means, aided the Queen in arranging meetings with men other than the King?" _There's_ the question.

"No," Xavier and I said in unison.

"Then where were you on all those nights where neither the Queen, Lady Rochford, or you could be found?"

"We were seeing each other to talk, whenever we could arrange it," Xavier said.

"Why would you wish to speak so often if not three months ago you were dueling each other in the jousting field?"

"We are the representatives of two large families of witches and wizards. We have both had problems caused by the other family, and we had only just met. It is natural to argue and for hostilities to escalate into an outright duel," Xavier explained. "After that, with the hostilities out of the way we agreed to work together to see what could be done for both our families. We dueled frequently, but continued to speak."

He signaled the man carrying the chest forward and the chest was laid on the table between us. Back to grabbing my wrists again.

He opened the chest, revealing Xavier's sabre and my wand inside. Figured. "I am prepared to return you your weapons if you will answer all my questions truthfully. I am extremely good at telling when a person is lying. Do you agree to these terms?"

I nodded. After a brief hesitation Xavier nodded as well.

The questioning continued.

"I understand that the Queen has given you, Lady Christina, a fine silk robe imported from the Far East. Why would she give you such a gift?"

What did that have to do with this? "I was asked to tell her where it was from, and I told her that it was from China. At her request I told her of an adventure I had there and she felt that I would be homesick, so she gave me the robe."

"She did not ask your silence on anything?"

"She did not," I answered.

"I believe that your home country, Singapore, is not anywhere in China. Why would you feel homesick for a place that is not your own country?" Crap. That's why.

"I made friends there, but I did not really miss China. I said that I was from Singapore, and tried to explain where it was, but they kept forgetting so I gave up explaining."

"Have you ever used your magic to injure since coming to this court?"

"Yes. During Xavier's and my duels. Sir, I do not see what this has to do with anything."

He smirked. "The King claims that there was an agreement that so long as you did not use your magic to harm, he would not have you arrested for witchcraft."

Holy freaking Minerva. I forgot.

Xavier spoke up. "And I attempted to injure her as well. It is in the context of a duel, and against someone that had a magic-repelling weapon besides, so surely that can be excused?"

"It will be noted. Finally, as you have said earlier, you have been meeting secretly at night. Care to elaborate?"

I nudged Xavier's knee under the table. _You talk._

"It was the only time both of us were free from duties. I can swear on the River Styx that nothing happened between us. If I am lying it will kill me instantly."

"Swear." Okay, that was too easy. Something was wrong.

"I, Xavier William Verde, swear on the River Styx that nothing inappropriate happened between Christina Seah Jing Yi and I." Thunder boomed outside as he said it. Weird. Magic or the Greek gods weren't supposed to exist here, so why did that happen?

But this was a fanfiction… I mentally prayed to every single god or goddess I could think of that this kept completely to canon.

We waited in silence for a few seconds. "D'you need me to swear as well?" I asked finally, breaking the silence.

The man nodded.

"I, Christina Seah Jing Yi, swear on the River Styx that I have never done anything against the law that I know of since coming to court, bar using my magic with intent to hurt in the context of a duel."

Thunder boomed outside.

I was still alive.

The man pushed the box towards us. "That will be all. You may reclaim your weapons."

Of course, we still ended up on trial, conveniently done in the Tower of London.

Xavier's sword had been left outside and my wand as well, and close to a dozen guards armed with what I now thought of as 'Itchy Weapons', but it didn't bother me too much. We'd done nothing wrong. This was probably just a show trial. Henry VIII loved drama, everyone at court knew that, so this was likely just an oversized means of getting it, right?

I wish.

I nearly had a heart attack when the list of charges didn't include helping Kathryn Howard, but witchcraft, lying to the King and attacking a nobleman. Xavier.

I had no defense. Nada.

Wait a second, why was there a woman in the stands? Women weren't allowed in, other than the accused. And why the holy Minerva did I feel some other kind of magic unless - oh no.

This really was a show trial. It was a show trial to get me convicted and most likely executed. And another magic-user was working against me.

No, no, no, this could not be happening, there was no way there would be another, the TV series never-

I cursed my memory. This wasn't the TV series. This was a fanfiction. Canon was irrelevant. That's why I wasn't there post-series or as a background character, but in the middle of the series and spent so much time with Kathryn Howard, killing canon just by being there.

But because there wasn't any canon, anything could happen. Magic duels could take place. There would be thunder every time someone swore on the Styx. Holy Minerva, Katherine Tylney was _there_, and the name Tylney barely even came up on the website!

"Anything to say in your defense?" the official in charge of this mess sneered, for lack of a better word.

Well, I was desperate. "There is another witch here. In this courtroom."

The whole room laughed. _Laughed_. "Of course she is a witch! But unlike you the daughter of Artemis serves His Majesty the King."

Said daughter of - wait, wasn't she supposed to be a virgin goddess? - smirked at me, and I finally got a good look at her.

Holy Minerva. She was impossibly pretty, and while normally I wouldn't notice historical inaccuracies in clothing, I was pretty sure a neon pink dress that otherwise looked like it was straight off an episode of _Merlin_ didn't belong in this time period.

And was that a lightning bolt scar? And now that I thought of it why did I feel_ Greek__ mythology_ and Harry Potter magic here of all places unless - oh holy Minerva.

I was up against a freaking Mary Sue. And my own cousin's creation, to boot.

I had long since lost count of how many times I'd cursed the Fates for being such sadistic jerks.

"You are found guilty of treason, witchcraft, and assault. I sentence you to death by hanging."

I was dead. Not yet literally, but soon.

Two guards escorted me to the exit of the room, Itchy Weapons pointed at my throat and at my back. I didn't notice that we'd stopped after a few steps, or that we'd stopped in front of the Mary Sue (how I didn't notice the obscenely bright neon pink dress I have no idea), mostly because I was trying to find some way out of this.

The logical, calm part of me managed to force the hysterical, get-me-out-of-here-I'm-gonna-die side into submission and decided that if worst came to worst and I couldn't get out of there, I could always just use magic to -

Agony ripped through my body and I screamed, my legs buckling under me. It felt like someone was tearing my muscles off my bones!

The pain died down almost immediately, and I was left completely limp and gasping for air, held by the guards who to their credit somehow managed to catch me before I collapsed.

I was still in pain, only slightly less than before. It was like every single injury and every single ache I'd ever gotten had decided to come back with a vengeance, from cramped drawing hands to slash wounds to broken ribs. The harsh taste of iron, blood, was in my mouth and I spat it out.

I could practically _feel_ the triumph radiating off the Mary Sue, along with a weird combination of Greek mythology magic, Harry Potter magic and… holy Minerva.

She was responsible.

"Just so you don't get any ideas, I took the liberty of stripping you of your magic," she said, sadistically happy.

Holy Minerva, no. No, no, no, this could not be possible, it wasn't supposed to be possible, magic was written into my genes and I needed it so much it was the only way I could survive this mess if I didn't have it I'd die it was impossible to just take it like that it had to be please she had to be lying no she _was_ lying it was impossible to strip me of my magic without killing me but why did I feel different, like something was missing and why did it hurt so much…


	2. Xavier

Xavier

The first thing I noticed after being shoved into the rooms and making my way to the bedroom was Christina, curled up in the center of the bed, her head down, sobbing. "Christina?"

She didn't respond. I walked up to the bed, grabbed her shoulder and shook her a bit.

If my reflexes were just a bit slower, I'd have been punched in the eye.

I was more concerned about the look in _her_ eyes, though. It wasn't the cocky, obstinate look I'd seen so often. It was panic. Pure, simple panic. Her eyes were huge and she looked absolutely terrified. She was crying, every inch of skin that I could see was covered in sweat, and she was groping frantically for a weapon with one hand and trying to get away at the same time. She looked like a cornered animal.

Hades.

"Christina, it's me, Xavier. We met a few months ago in Australia, got stuck here in Tudor England, been dueling ever since?" I said cautiously, my hands up in the universal gesture of surrender. She didn't seem to recognize me. "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise. Calm down."

It took a minute or two for her to finally remember who I was. And then turn her back on me. Still crying.

I climbed up onto the bed behind her. "Christina. I'm not going to hurt you. Relax. Let me help," I said slowly, trying to make (and keep) my tone as soothing as possible.

I kept an eye on where her hands were as I put a hand on her shoulder.

She shuddered, but didn't respond otherwise.

That was good.

I cautiously pulled her closer so her back was to my chest, holding onto her wrists partly to stop her from accidentally hurting herself or me, partly so she knew I was there, and moving so she was sitting between my legs "I need you to relax, and get your breathing back to normal. Shh, relax. Come on, breathe with me. In, then out. In, then out. Three counts."

Thank the gods, she followed, relaxing until she was basically limp in my arms. She'd stopped crying, and her breathing rate was at least near-normal.

That's when I noticed something. There weren't any weapons. No wand, no sword, not even a shield or knife. She'd been unarmed this whole time.

Helping Jules cope after she lost her leg, I'd learned one thing about panic attacks: they have a nasty habit of triggering the fight-or-flight instinct, and if the person suffering from a panic attack thought they were trapped in any way, they're going try to fight their way out of whatever's trapping them, and gods help you if they had access to weapons and were trained to use them, especially if they remembered that they'd had to fight their way out in the past a lot.

There wasn't a weapon in sight, but I knew for a fact that Christina could summon and create in her sleep under normal circumstances, and there was no way she could have put something away without me noticing. That meant she wasn't able to summon anything in the first place.

I had a sinking feeling about exactly what caused the panic attack, but the thought was so horrible I immediately hoped to every single god, goddess and spirit or whatever there was that it wasn't true. "I'm going to go check on something. I'm going to leave you alone for about a minute, then I'll be right back. I'll leave the door open, so if you need something, just yell."

I really shouldn't have even thought about leaving her alone, but I needed to know what happened to her.

She nodded, and I slipped off the bed, heading out to find the guards.

The two guards crossed their glaives in front of me the moment I opened the door. "You're not to leave these rooms."

"I wasn't going to. What happened to Christina?" I asked.

The guards looked surprised. Idiots. "Lady Ebony took the witch's magic," one of them answered.

I honestly wasn't sure whether to be horrified that someone could take another person's magic just like that, or charge after Lady Ebony and to Hades with the consequences because she _dared._

In most magical worlds that I knew of, forcibly stripping another person of magic - if it was even possible - almost always got the death sentence from the judge or King or whoever was in charge. If it didn't, the person - scratch that, _monster_ who did it was often lynched within a week, and for good reason.

I heard someone snarl in outrage, and it took me a second to realize it was _me_. "Forcibly removing someone else's magic is the magical equivalent of torturing, raping and then attempting to kill the person! Victims are sometimes driven insane! It is one of the few things in the magical world that always gets the death sentence."

One of the guards cringed. "Didn't realize it was so bad."

The other guard looked at me suspiciously. "Who's to say you and that wench aren't plotting an escape right now?"

I was actually struck dumb by his sheer stupidity. "Did you not hear what I just said? She's just had a panic attack after effectively being tortured, violated in the worst way possible and surviving what is almost universally taken to be an attempt on her life. I'm amazed she's still conscious, much less able to lash out. Take a look if you don't believe me."

I threw the door open and stepped aside. Since the door to the bedroom adjacent to the main door, they could see straight to where Christina was, sitting on the bed with her arms in front of her propping her up, her head down.

You could practically feel how devastated she was. "You honestly think she can do anything? I'm completely unarmed, nearly magicless, and even if I wasn't I'm not about to try to escape, with how she is. I just need a few sheets of paper, and a quill and ink. To let her draw. She can't do anything, and I can't use my magic that way."

They were about to refuse, when I added quickly, "Or just something for her to do. Stitchwork, reading, I don't care. Just something to distract her."

The guard who'd cringed sighed. "I s'pose."

I decided not to press my luck, thanked them, and headed back inside.

_What now? I need some way to keep the both of us from being executed. A precontract stunt would be completely useless now, and Christina's too devastated for it to work anyway. There has to be some other loophole in the law that we can use to buy us time._

I could ward the door. It'd cost a lot of energy, since I was doing it outside Verde House, but might buy us some time.

_But that 'Lady Ebony' would probably break through the wards in a second._

Christina was struggling to remove her hood. I helped her unpin it (how it was pinned to her hair in the first place is beyond me), and after about a second of playing with it, she finally spoke. "Lady Ebony's a Mary Sue. She shouldn't have been able to take my magic but she did. She can do the impossible. One thing that's impossible is getting out of here. Another thing that's impossible is waiting."

She was rambling. "We can't get out of here. I wish I had a spell, something. Something that can get us away. Even if it's just to the Valley. Even the Valley is better than this."

Right then someone knocked on the door. "It's me!"

Oh Hades, that was Lady Ebony. Only she can have a voice that can actually be compared to a violin.

I suddenly hated violins.

She could _not_ see her. Jules still hated going within ten feet of where the pit used to be on our grounds, before it was filled in. Christina might just go into another panic attack.

I barely drew the curtains around the bed when said monster strutted in.

I strode out to the main room, partially closing the door behind me. Christina wouldn't be able to see or really hear Lady Ebony, but I could hear the moment she needed help. Probably.

"Hello." I nearly couldn't hide my disgust at the monster in front of me. I still nodded to her. "Lady Ebony."

She smiled prettily and gestured to one of the chairs. "Sit!"

She reminded me of a younger, considerably more attractive Dolores Umbridge. I indicated that she should sit first.

She giggled. "You're such a gentleman."

_Woman, if you had any idea what I want to do in revenge you'd call me anything but._

"Oh! I nearly forgot!" She pulled a basket of embroidery supplies and a few books out of nowhere and gave it to me. "For you. And that Katerina."

"_Christina_," I corrected. It took all of my self-control not to do something illegal right then. Hades, that was Christina's magic, not hers! "But thanks."

She waved it off, smiling, then frowned and sighed, giving me a pitying look. "It's such a waste. I mean, you're so handsome, and so many people say I'm pretty even though I'm like not, like, we should totes like be in love!"

My kneejerk reaction? "_Hades_ no!"

She blinked, surprised. "Like, why?"

When I didn't answer - mostly because I was still in shock - she started wailing. "You don't like me! I'm gonna like throw myself off a cliff!"

_Please do._

What Alicia called my Magnificent Bastard side immediately pointed out how this could be used to my advantage. In under a second I had a plan. Risky and would possibly get me killed even _faster_, but a plan.

"Of course I like you! It's just that you're too good for me, so we can never be together." I sincerely hoped that she'd be too vain not to believe it.

She swallowed it, hook, line and sinker. "I'm not like perfect! I have like a small pimple under my chin, so nobody can see it, but it's like totally there so I'm not like perfect. Even though I have like a five-octave singing voice, am like the only daughter of Artemis and the Girl-Who-Lived and like prettier than Aphrodite and smarter than Athena and like the true ruler of Middle Earth."

"So tell me about yourself," I said quickly, trying to change the subject.

Cue the sobbing, which, as per standard Mary Sue rules didn't do anything to her makeup. "I'm like half vampire and half werewolf and half elf and half angel and half demon, and because Voldemort was so-"

Call me an insensitive prick, but I stopped paying attention at that point. There were just _way _too many halves in there. It was mathematically impossible.

By the end of it, she somehow ended up sitting so close next to me that she was actually leaning against me, and I could have sworn I was sitting on an armchair when she started talking, not a couch. It took me about a second to realize what was happening when she started leaning towards me, her sob-fest over.

Oh _Hades_ no.

I stood up, forcing her to back away, and bowed formally. "If there is nothing else that you need, I really should check on Christina. Thanks again for the embroidery supplies."

She stood up, blushing, then turned and left.

It was true: I _had_ to check on Christina. I was seriously paranoid about if she was alone and I didn't hear her when she needed help. Not that I liked her or anything. It's just that she was my friend who really needed my help. Even if I did, it was an extremely bad idea to nurse a crush while your and said crush are in danger MOVING ON.

I grabbed the supplies and books and opened the bedroom door, not trying to be quiet so I didn't startle her.

She was still sitting on the bed, idly fingering the hood. When I gave her the embroidery supplies and explained what they were for, she just nodded and picked them up. Nothing else.

I don't think I ever hated a fictional character so much.

I never thought I'd ever be grateful for the fact that Casanova - well, the fictional version of him - lived right across the street from Verde House and Hades, was _teaching Italian at my school_. Like it or not, I'd learned a thing or two from him on getting girls to like you.

Well, from his time period at least, which to be fair seemed to be good enough for the Medieval Fantasy ladies through to the Star Trek ensigns. Though he did have the decency to never get in the way of a happy relationship, chivalrous pervert that he was.

I ended up applying his lessons so well that Lady Ebony actually got Henry VIII to put off Christina's and my executions. How, I have no idea.

Although maybe I did a little _too_ well. I actually had to restrain myself from lashing out several times when she got a bit too close for comfort, and keeping my eyes on her face was becoming increasingly difficult, with the dresses she wore.

Considering it was winter, I had no idea how she didn't get pneumonia or something, with the sheer amount of skin exposed. I was amazed that she hadn't been arrested for indecent exposure yet.

Christina was a wreck. She barely slept because the few times she did, she had to relive being stripped of her magic, and getting her to eat was nearing impossible. The sole reason she was still conscious was because I made her eat when she was just too tired to argue, and carefully using a bit of magic to boost my own charisma helped. I had to speed up my plan just so there was a chance we'd both make it back.

Today was the last phase of my plan.

_Lord Hermes, god of tricksters, please let this work. Lives may literally hang in the balance._

_And I sound like some emo melodramatic brat. Which is exactly what Christina called me once, minus the emo part._

I straightened my clothes, tried to get my hair into some semblance of order - it was worse than Christina's, which is saying a lot since she actually gels it to make it messier - and plastered on the smile Casanova swore would break hearts one day.

Right on time, "Xavier-dear!"

_Do not puke, do not puke, do not puke._ "Ebony!"

A part of me started to feel guilty about what I was going to do, but then I remembered just what she did to Christina, and it shut up. _She deserved it._

I just made it through her supposedly deep talking (I've had more insightful talks with Julia's German Shepherd) when finally, she brought up the topic of family.

"If it isn't too much…" I paused, trying to sound hesitant. "I would like you to meet my family."

I got exactly the reaction I'd been hoping for: She squealed, blushing and fluttering her eyelashes at me. _Thank the gods that Mary Sues never notice age, or there is no way I could've pulled that off._ "Yes!"

"Trouble is, they're in another world." Please let this work.

"Oh, that's no problem. I made this really awesome spell, it sends people back to their birth worlds!" Oh come on, use something original for once! "You just have to hold onto whatever you want to bring with you."

"Can we bring Christina? She's, well, a wreck, and it'd be best if she gets proper psychiatric help. It's not like she can do anything even if she wanted." _Please let her be enough of an egotistical complacent idiot to agree._

Lady Ebony grinned and nodded, rushing gracefully (I was being affected by the SUE CHARM AGH KILL ME NOW) into the bedroom where Christina was embroidering something and without hesitation grabbed her wrist. She didn't even respond.

Lady Ebony literally _shrieked_ the spell and pretty soon the silver mist surrounded us.

Once it cleared, Lady Ebony, Christina – chair, embroidery things and all, and I were in the hotel ballroom again, surrounded by Christina's and my families.

Christina had nearly collapsed when she did the spell. Lady Ebony just grinned and grabbed my hand.

"WHAT THE _HELL_ DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER?!" someone I vaguely recognized as Christina's mom, Aunt Gabby screamed, rushing over and hugging Christina to her.

The atmosphere instantly turned hostile, as the Artists realized that Christina, the only Master in over two hundred years and more importantly one of their own, was clearly in _extremely_ bad shape after coming back from an, um, adventure for lack of a better word with me, and this strange girl holding onto my hand was looking all too happy about it. Delta started barking again, and for once Julia didn't silence her.

Where the Hades did that T-shirt launcher come from?!

"Who the holy Minerva are you and what did you do to my cousin?" Amy growled at Lady Ebony.

Lady Ebony actually squealed, and I tore my hand out of hers to cover my ears. "OMG YOU'RE LIKE MY AUTHORESS I'M SO HONORED TO MEET YOU! I'M LIKE LADY EBONY FELLAURORALISTERINAVETTA MARY SUE! I have like a five-octave singing voice, am like the only daughter of Artemis and the Girl-Who-Lived and like Voldemort's daughter and like prettier than Aphrodite and smarter than Athena and like the true ruler of Middle Earth and I'm like half vampire and half werewolf and half elf and half angel and half demon. I took your nasty ugly cousin's magic because she was working against my father the King. King Henry VIII."

If it wasn't for the fact that she was currently holding her very fragile daughter I think Aunt Gabby would have lunged at Lady Ebony. As is, if Amy didn't practically throw herself between us and the rest of the group I think Lady Ebony would have been torn to pieces, set on fire and fed to the crows by both families.

Amy stepped forward so she was nearly nose-to-nose with Lady Ebony. "Your name is _Anne_, and you are _not_ any of the things you said you were – you are a lowly maid in the royal household, as you are not of noble birth. A simple witness of the downfall of Kathryn Howard, nothing more, nothing less.

"You do not have a five-octave singing voice, you are not smarter than Athena and prettier than Aphrodite, you are not the true ruler of Middle Earth and you WILL BLOODY _PAY_ FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL COUSIN. RESTORE HER MAGIC _RIGHT NOW _OR I _WON'T _STOP MY FAMILY FROM GIVING YOU _EXACTLY_ WHAT YOU DESERVE!"

"SILENCE!" Aunt Gabby roared. I could see who Christina inherited her Death Glare from as she hissed, "For the love of all things good keep it down!"

The proud, fiercely independent firebrand I'd come to respect was crying, clinging desperately to her mom and hiding her face in her mom's shirt.

Aunt Gabby wrapped her arms tighter around Christina and turned to direct the full force of her Death Glare at Lady Ebony. "Swear on your magic that you will return my daughter Christina Seah Jing Yi's magic to her _now_ and will then return to your story immediately after."

The boy and girl aiming the T-shirt launcher yelled, "Locked and loaded, Aunt Gabby."

By now almost every single Artist was armed with a weapon, a few happily arming my family as well. If Lady Ebony tried anything she'd have dozens of arrows, crossbow bolts, throwing knives and bullets sticking out of her before she could blink. And a few T-shirts being fired out of an air cannon at her.

I didn't like the knowing look in Lady Ebony's eyes as she swore on her magic. But then again, it was Aunt Gabby who'd worded that promise, the same Aunt Gabby who was a part-time lawyer. She'd probably covered all the possible loopholes. There was no way Lady Ebony could worm her way out of this, right?

"Return my daughter's magic now," Aunt Gabby ordered.

"No," Lady Ebony said in a sing-song voice. "That oath isn't binding to wizarding magic."

Oh crap.

Aunt Gabby looked smug at this. Somehow that frightened me more than anything I'd ever encountered. This is coming from someone who's had Ctulhu himself Death Glaring him. "But it is to Artist's magic, idiot."

_Holy Hades. I am _never _getting on Aunt Gabby's bad side._

I barely had time to back away when Lady Ebony screamed and collapsed, a gold haze leaving her mouth. At the same time Aunt Gabby pushed Christina towards Lady Ebony and scrambled back.

The gold haze floated around for a second before finally drifting down to wrap itself around Christina, sinking into her.

She instantly looked better, less insubstantial, like a strong wind would break her to pieces. She looked up at Lady Ebony, who'd somehow survived and gotten to her feet, and smirked. The dark smudges under her eyes were rapidly fading, and anyone could tell that she was nearly back to full strength.

_"I hear tell that after that the magic goes to the nearest Artist, but nobody's broken any magic oaths so we don't know for sure."_

What the... In the time it took me to realize just why I should never try to trick Aunt Gabby Christina had gotten to her feet, her wand drawn and pointed at Lady Ebony.

She turned around slightly to face Aunt Gabby. "Thanks mom."

Aunt Gabby smirked. "No problem. Now show that lousy excuse of a magic-user just why it never pays to mess with an Artist."

Christina smiled maliciously. "With pleasure. Xavier, you may want to get out of the way. My aim's shot. I may just hit someone's face."

"There's no way I'm letting you take this by yourself. I want a bit of payback as well."

Lady Ebony turned to me, looking betrayed. "X-Xavier? You... I thought you loved me! You were going to ask me to-"

I felt a twinge of irrational guilt for manipulating her so much, but I shoved it aside to deal with later. "Lady Ebony, I'm fifteen years old. You effectively tortured, raped and then attempted to murder my friend for no real reason - you know as well as I do that simply swearing on the Styx would have been enough. Mind my language, but why the hell would I have loved you?"

"Xavier." Christina was holding a saber out to me, hilt-first. "Yes or no?"

I shook my head. "Naw. I think my talking might just be worse. A sword would be overkill."

"But... But you can't! You're hot and all the good guys are always hot! The bad guys are the gross fat ones!"

"I am a good guy. It's just that I've had to be a little more amoral when dealing with the villain. You. You stripped her of her magic, you're fair game. I apologize for nothing, but I will try to make sure whatever happens is relatively painless. Christina?"

She shot a high-powered Full-Body Bind Curse and another that tied the victim up with ropes at Lady Ebony before she could react, catching her just in time to stop her from face-planting and lowering her to the floor, carefully but not necessarily gently and moving her hair to one side.

She crouched over her. "I'm not going to do anything painful, so don't worry about that. Just..."

She summoned a pair of scissors and proceeded to cut Lady Ebony's hair off, until she was almost bald. "A little humiliation never hurt anyone."

She got up and stepped back.

In a flash of light, Lady Ebony was gone.

"Huh. Verde House magic applies here as well apparently," the Tony said.

"We should head up to our rooms for a rest," Mum said, giving me a Look. Aunt Gabby raised an eyebrow at Christina.

"I'm alright," we said in unison.

"I just need to head out for a while. To process everything," Christina added.

"Me too," I said quickly.

"Xavier and Christina, sitting in a tree," most of the younger Artists and my family sang. "K-I-"

Christina must've Death Glared them, because they shut up immediately and tried to sink down in their seats. I was too busy Death Glaring them myself.

Aunt Gabby smiled, a bit sadly, and handed Christina a phone. "You've got twenty bucks in Hammerspace, everyone's numbers are in your phone, be back by ten at the very latest and watch out for yourself. And you may want to change."

"Xavier." Mum nodded to me, giving me twenty dollars. "Same for you."

Christina Transfigured our clothes into something more appropriate and we headed out. "There's a McDonald's down the road. Go there?"

In ten minutes we were eating Big Macs at a corner table, away from most of the others. We'd paid for ourselves. It was about lunchtime when we'd left Tudor England, and it'd pass as a late dinner now.

"Who'd imagine that burgers could taste so good," Christina said, grabbing a fry.

"Mm. Gods, it's been what, four months? Five? I'm almost sixteen now that I think of it. You?"

"Four and a half months. And please, if it wasn't for being given a small dose of fairy magic back in Artemis Fowl I'll be sixteen by now. End result is that I'm fifteen physically, a year or two older mentally." She stretched her arms up. "Wouldn't trade it for the world, though."

"Not even what happened back there?" I asked.

She smiled, reaching for her burger again. "Alright, I can live without _that_ part, but yeah. I mean, isn't it the same for you and Verde House? You wouldn't live anywhere else, would you?"

I didn't even have to think. "Nope."

We ate in comfortable silence.

"Nice job with Lady Ebony, Casanova," she smirked and took a sip of Coke. "Never knew you were such a charmer."

"That guy's actually my Italian teacher at my high school."

Christina choked but quickly swallowed her drink. "What?"

"Casanova, fictional version at least. Who d'you think I learned from?" I asked, trying to keep the smug smile off my face.

She glared at me, then her look changed to interest. "Casa-freaking-nova. That explains so much. Out of curiosity, any idea how many women he's slept with"

"Rumor has it's around thirty or so, though it could be higher. He actually has a code: No-one happily married or dating and no-one still living with their parents. Everyone else is fair game." I had to laugh at the look on her face then. "He's pretty awesome, actually. Great teacher and one of the few we trust to help keep an eye on Verde House."

"That explains a lot."

It was easy to hang out with her. Since it was the middle of summer we spent most of the time at the beach. At first we'd just swim, then I told Christina about the Challenge of the Lake and we ended up racing half the time we were in the sea and gave up swimming.

Christina was interested by how the U.S. Government knew that Verde House existed, but didn't step in or interfere. Her family had only just managed to ward off Government interference by having Aunt Gabby deal with it. I was more interested in how her family was able to keep their ability under wraps for six whole centuries while us Verdes had barely managed to keep it quiet for two.

We left Australia on New Year's Eve, after friending each other on Facebook and exchanging email addresses. I wasn't sure if it'd lead anywhere, but I definitely wanted to find out.


End file.
